After weeks in open beta we are finally proud to officially release the 2.0 update for Sovereignty. Since we’ve entered Early Access we have been facing several obstacles, but, thanks to our community’s involvement, dedication and feedback, we continue to move forward. In order to deliver a more ambitious game, we decided last year to switch to a new engine. This was not an easy decision to make and we changed a lot of things under the hood, which were almost invisible from a player point of view.

Now we know that this decision was necessary, and that it was instrumental in creating the game we all want to play. Going public with version 2.0 is a huge step towards the end of the Early Access phase. This major update includes many UI and game mechanics changes but also brand new features. For instance you can now customise your province by constructing buildings in them and design your empire according to your play style. Prisoners are also now completely under your control; would you want to trade them, recruit them in your own army, or keep them in jail for other dark purposes. The more the game evolves, the more you are in control, and be ready to have again a lot of surprises by the end of the Early Access program!

If you want more details about the 2.0 changes, please read the changelog below:
User Interface

The AI has been heavily modified, and realms should act more in line with their expected personalities now - for example, Jotland and Vessoi will actively attempt to obtain the totems to call the horde.
Auto Battle

The auto battle changes are not just aesthetic, the armies are lined up in formation (infantry in front, archers/ranged behind, cavalry on the flanks). This affects how they fight as well as looking better.
In addition, the way targets are chosen in auto battle has been improved - the AI will no longer select targets based on only their combat stats, but will also consider the amount of damage which will be dealt.
Trading and Treaties

The trade system has been overhauled - when a trade is offered, all negotiation is done instantly, no more waiting for your agent to travel across the world first. Once trade is negotiated, the deal is finalized immediately.
Agents still play a part, as they must transport the goods agreed in the trade, this means that while the deal is agreed on instantly, the actual goods may still take several turns to arrive - the progress of the agents can be seen in Foreign Affairs under the Current Trade tab.
Unit Promotions

Unit promotions are no longer random. Units will instead gain XP as they participate in battles (visible on their unit info cards). When they have enough, they are promoted. It now takes longer to get 4 medals for a unit, but it is a more predictable system.
Balance

A lot of small changes to game balance have been made, and the special class abilities have been tweaked somewhat, in particular, cavalry charges will now be less effective in rougher terrains, and shield wall is less powerful than it used to be.
Buildings

Instead of increasing an Economy value to get more income from provinces, you can now customize your province by constructing buildings in them - choose to create an economic powerhouse or a heavily fortified defensive bastion, build special buildings to influence the course of your empire and mold it to your play style.
Prisoners

Instead of automating the process, prisoners are now entirely under your control. Choose when, or if, to trade them back to their owner for money and influence. Keep them in your prisons and use them to improve your own empire - recruit them into your armies as mercenaries, experiment on them for greater power, even raise them as powerful Undead units.
Bugs and Crashes

We have fixed a great number of the bugs and crashes which were present in 1.9, this should result in a much more stable experience. As always, if you do run into any bugs, let us know using the bug report tool or on the forums.